Stephenson Family Reunion {...*Video link now working*}

Add Family from AZ/CA + Grandpa's Stories + Tamales 
= And you've got a Stephenson Family Reunion.

~This year we were in my Aunt Sandy & Uncle Toby's home in beautiful Queen Creek. Just look at the views...That's why I love living here. Add horses to the mix & the kiddies were in heaven!

It was great weather out & we had lots of delicious food!

My CUTE lil' Sissies & Cousins

~We watched a video presentation that I had made for the occasion. The background music was a song that my Mom had written words to over the years. (With the help of Brittany's friend, him & his family put it to music in their family's studio.) It is beautiful and tells the story of my Grandpa Ed's little brother who died at the age of 4. This was a very tragic event in their lives and something my Grannie Mattie never talked about because it hurt so much. They were not members of the church & did not believe that families were eternal, thus the incredible turmoil and heartache. Years later, my Grandpa heard that because of Jesus Christ he could one day see his brother Dannie again. This, along with a deep love for my Grandma Pauline converted him to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints-to which I am forever grateful.

*Here is the Video I made about that very story:  
(Words/Music-by Kathy Curtis & Nate Noble)

~There are 3 voices singing this song. One represents Grannie Mattie's (Dannie's Mother), one is Dannie singing from Heaven & the other is my Mom singing from Earth explaining that there is meaning behind it all & we must learn it and share its message.

Baby Ivan

 Ivan Jason Check

was born to his anxious family 

on November 20, 2010

 @ 5:12 am

He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz.  

& was 20½ inches long.

~After a long, frightening & hard labor

Ivan was finally delivered via C-section.

He was welcomed with open arms by all.

I think Jax is ready for his own baby...

Jax was so enamored by precious little Ivan

Wedding Photos of my little bro

Here are some of my favorites....

~Happy Birthday (today) Danny~

May it be best your BEST YEAR yet.

This morning I woke up...

FAT! 
Seriously woke up with a huge belly.
Even had a couple comments about it from people today.
My last pair of jeans now do not fit.  Sweats it will be.


Today was my first day out of the house in a few days.
I've been really sick since Sunday morning but I'm on the mend...I hope.
Don't worry I'm not contagious...just pregnant.
I should be back to normal tomorrow...I hope. I go in sick spurts-it's weird.


If all goes as my other 4 pregnancies, I should only have 3 more weeks of nausea.
I realized today that I am 1/3 of the way done with this pregnancy which I'm thrilled about.
Don't like being pregnant-just like the babies that come because of it.


~Last night 2 noteworthy things happened that I must mention. 
The first was terrible. I cramped badly for an hour & no matter what I did it wouldn't go away.
Finally it did. I realized how much I really do want & am excited about this baby! (I have to remember that feeling when I feel overwhelmed at the thought of having two babies-or am up in the night dealing w/ nausea & a crying, gassy 18 month old at the exact same time. Not fun.)


The second thing was-I felt my baby move in the middle of the night! 
Is that even possible at 13 weeks?
It was a quick little butterfly motion but I felt it.
It woke me up & I couldn't believe it. It was a tender mercy after a long couple of days!


Other exciting news is that baby Ivan will be here soon. 
My sister in law's little boy is scheduled to make his appearance into this world this week. 
We can't wait to meet him & couldn't be more thrilled for their family!


**{I have so many posts to catch up on that I will start tomorrow-maybe. The problem is that I post at night. Lately though I'll get the kids to bed, shower & then lay down to watch t.v. with tim...but I fall right to sleep with exhaustion.}

Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking-Part 2

We weren't the only ones excited about this:

            We were blessed with such beautiful weather on Saturday, November 13th. Tim & I took the kids down amongst the large crowd & found my mom and sister who had kindly saved us some seats...next to one of the loud speakers. :) Ahead of us one row sat our friends the Wrights, off to the left we saw our Bishop and his family. Surrounding us were approximately 7,500 or so others there with many more people we knew & many we didn't~Other brothers and sisters in the Gospel there also to share our excitement about this new Temple in our own Hometown!

People as far as you can see...View from the Choir Seats

            We listened to speakers & sang hymns together that gave you goosebumps. You could feel the presence of our ancestors who you knew were there & were also excited about this Temple. They were the ones that first came to Arizona and prepared this land for us their posterity & I'm sure they had something to do with it being brought about.

By 2013 there will be a Temple on these very grounds. 

~A Home for the Heavens to come here on Earth and dwell.~

*Photo Credits to Kathy who made this blog about the Gilbert Temple's Progress

I heard the statistic that 1 in every 17 Arizona citizens is LDS... And in Gilbert I'm sure that number goes way up. (& Queen Creek even more...) You can see why this is such a big deal for us Arizonans-another long awaited day in the church! This will be Arizona's 5th Temple completed. {Mesa-1927, Snowflake-2002, Gila Valley-2010, and coming soon Phoenix & Gilbert.}

*Here is the Church's Website specifically for the Gilbert Temple.

Our Lil' Reader

So here are just a few of the bazillion pictures I took the other day of this cute boy. He was SO into it that he was oblivious to me as I took the pictures. I swear he read this magazine for a good 15 minutes. It was the cutest thing ever. He would turn the pages and sometimes babble away. Look at the first picture in lefthand corner of him staring at Jesus with the children. I love the one in the middle with it 1/2 inch from his face.
{The magazine is the Church's childrens "Friend" magazine.}

Is he precious or what?

Performing at the State Fair...

..right before they were about to perform their song: "Get Ready"

They did awesome of course...

After the performance we headed over to the St. Fair's Customer Service Booth & turned in spence, kay & dude's Book Reading Logs which got them each 3 FREE RIDES!

Grandpa Ron had come to see Spence perform & he tagged along for the fun.

Daylan loved this big slide! He took off way before Tim in all his excitement!

Spence did 3 scary rides & got sick on the last one.

The kids favorite ride was this little (big) Roller Coaster.
A good way to end the day. :)

Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking

This Saturday the Gilbert Temple groundbreaking will occur.

It is designed to look like this. ~It will be beautiful!
President Monson says this of Temples: 
"...they stand as a beacon for ALL to see."

My older kids are excited to do baptisms there someday soon.

Spencer will be 12 by the time it's built and will be able to do so then. Kaylea says she wants to get married there!

I never would've imagined as an 11 year old Gilbert girl that there would be a Temple one day in Gilbert. The Gospel message is spreading at a tremendous speed & it is wonderful.

I believe that these Temples on Earth are literally Houses of God. His spirit truly dwells there.

You can literally feel the presence of Heaven as you sit quietly alone praying

or as you do ordinances for those who have passed on.

*Here are some more reasons why Temples are so important to us.*

~Last Saturday my little brother Danny & his bride Kayla were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple.

I cried...and not just because I'm pregnant.
It was a beautiful ceremony with an overwhelming presence of Angels.

~They have chosen to be together for Time & all Eternity~

More photos to come...

To cute to not post...

Our First Halloween Event was a Trick or Treat Party at the Elementary School. 

Jaxson & Spence were Pirates

Kaylea- a gangster or tomboy (whichever she felt like saying at the moment)

 and Daylan- A King

Then on Saturday the 30th 

We ate our traditional "Mummy-Dogs" for lunch.

*That evening our Ward put on a Trunk or Treat...

Jax insisted he pass out candy with Dad.

The kids had fun walking about from trunk to trunk with cousins...

The Boys were dressed up this time as....?

Would you guess it if he was saying... "O-tay"

Daylan, Jax & Spence (Alf-Alfa) were The Little Rascals...Sara's idea.
Just used some old clothes, found suspenders & hats and called it good.
Kaylea of course refused to be "Darla" (too girly) & insisted on karate girl....
She's what you call "going against the grain."

Cuteness...

Then after church on Sunday we went to the Lundells for a yummy Chili Dinner.

Since Halloween actually fell on the Sabbath this year, we didn't have the kids Trick or Treat. They understood & were totally fine with it. For the 1st time ever they got to pass out candy to any costumers who came by that night. They said it was just as fun & perhaps even "funner" than actually ringing all the doorbells.

Another Fun-Filled Campbell Holiday.

Bellemont Tornado(s)

I still can't believe this happened...

Once upon a time in 2002 we moved to Bellemont. In fact we were the very 1st house built there in the Flagstaff Meadows neighborhood with the Lundell's a close 2nd. We were the pioneers there. Our only neighbors were the cows who sometimes grazed in our backyard, the multitude of pine trees, the view of Humphrey's Peak mountain, a hidden trailer park with a few people, the Truck Stop, & across the overpass the Army Depot. Soon, another neighbor would be the local Hotel..that Tim and Mason were having built & would own.

Who knew that 8 or so years later so much change would happen in this little town. There are now hundreds of homes & townhomes, a good part of those they built. The Microtel hotel that was sold to different owners & changed to Motel 6 would harbor the same tornado victims that were now homeless after numerous tornados ripped through the neighborhood.

*The tornados hit our old street Bellemont Springs Rd. the hardest!*
Here was our home a few years ago when we lived there...(back in the bountiful times)

 Here is a picture of it after the Tornados.

{These pics of our old house were sent to me via my sister n law Heidi, who still lives in Bellemont, 

through her friend who now lives in the house.}

Here is the Entry Way:

Look at all the glass on the floor!

I just can't believe how the tornado blew through windows. If we still lived there, this is the room my BOYS would have been sleeping in...

It's still a miracle to me that no one was severely hurt or killed in these tornados. There was one neighbor that was upstairs covering his kids when their roof was totally lifted off their house & he said he saw the funnel right above him & was sure they would be sucked up any minute. Right then part of the roof fell to cover & protect them.

The tornados even flipped cars, RVs & boats.

{Some of these photos taken by other friends, neighbors.}

Yes that is a boat coming through a roof.

This is my old neighbor & friend Rebecca who was right in the thick of it all. Very fitting of her to be holding this sign "There's no place like home."~Dorothy
(who also taught us a thing or two about tornados & what home really is.)

Well, How do I put this....

How 'bout I let Jax tell you...

Whoo Hoo!

~I'm gonna be a BIG BROTHER!~

* Today we saw/heard our baby.  

*He/She was active, kicking and waving at us
and as cute as an 11 wk old fetus can get.

(It's flabbergasting to me that anyone could abort a baby at that stage...It blows my mind.)

*The last 6 weeks although I've been sick, exhausted & emotional, I have still been in complete shock & denial that I will be the Mother of 5 Kids....whoa makes me nauseous just to type it.

*This Baby will be born mid May right before Jaxson's 2nd Birthday.

*We weren't planning on Jax being a big brother so soon but I guess Heavenly Father had other plans.
(That's a post for another day...) 

...~Tonight I will dream about this precious little person I met today.

*this lil' 4 second video clip is like the only time the baby was still 
..but you can at least see the little heart beating....  don't blink.

*Ironically 2 years ago from yesterday I posted this.

Gonna Find Out...

...Who's Naughty or Nice!

Now that Halloween is over I hear Santa is watching carefully already who will be on the Naughty & Nice Lists this year. We just had a tantrum at our house which triggered me to look up the List online.

{If your kids want to see if they are on the Naughty or Nice List check this out!}

Here was our outcome:

daylan
Just when we were about to give a "Naughty" rating, this one came through last week with a good deed. Great work! Back to the "Nice" list. But watch out for interrupting when others are talking, and burping without an "excuse me"…even when you think no one heard the burp! Remember, I hear it all!

*We'll see how long this works for....